GOOD SITE, BAD SIGHT: (Above): The large turnout for Jamaat-e-Ulema Hind meeting on the Shahid Minar grounds, which left the city centre roads snarl-free. (Below): The CPI-ML rally on Rani Rashmoni Avenue, that paralysed traffic in the same area on Thursday afternoon. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

• Shahid Minar grounds, 1 pm:A crowd of 11,000, under the banner of Jamaat-e-Ulema Hind, has assembled peacefully without causing a single traffic snarl in the Esplanade-Red Road zone. A meeting venue that does not encroach on the thoroughfare means a handful of cops can breathe easy and the Calcutta commuter can enjoy an easy passage.

•Rani Rashmoni Avenue, 2 pm: A group of 2,000 CPI-ML supporters block two flanks of the thoroughfare and leave only the northern flank open to traffic. A 30-strong police posse, led by an assistant commissioner and an OC, watches in vain as the arterial roads leading to Esplanade are clogged.

With political parties following a path of maximum disturbance when it comes to holding meetings in the heart of Calcutta, the Jamaat-e-Ulema Hind on Thursday showed just how to stage a big meeting without paralysing the city centre.

'This is why we always insist that rally organisers choose the Shahid Minar. Even though such a big meeting was held there on Thursday, there was no traffic snarl,' said Anuj Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (headquarters).

In another development on Thursday, Idris Ali, a party to the case relating to rally on city roads, moved a verbal appeal before a division bench of Calcutta High Court.

He stated that the petition moved by the government against Justice Amitava Lala's ruling, banning weekday rallies, had been pending for over two years.